Just 4% of doctors in the UK come from working class backgrounds. And the statistics aren’t much more encouraging in relation to law (6%) or journalism (11%). In short, securing a well-paid job in a top profession is strongly correlated with social background.

That’s where the Social Mobility Foundation comes in. The charity, set up in 2005, enables young people from low-income backgrounds to pursue their dream careers.

Since launch, SMF has grown to support over 1,600 students each year. But it’s branding hasn’t kept up...

Our task was to design an identity that would better reflect SMF’s life-changing work and resonate with its broad audience of students, teachers and businesses.

At its simplest, social mobility is the free movement between different levels of society. We decided to create a look and feel for the Social Mobility Foundation that spoke directly to this notion. An identity that would amplify the brand’s mission.

Our idea was to spark the imaginations of students and supporters with designs that were full of upwards momentum. By focusing on creating a sense of empowerment yet approachability, we hoped to remove potential barriers to engaging with the charity.

The Social Mobility Foundation doesn’t have a big budget to spent on advertising. Instead, it utilises social media. For this reason, our design would need to be impactful in both static and animated forms. And it would need to resonate with younger, more digitally-native audiences.

Big, bold and engaging - our identity for the Social Mobility Foundation is anchored around an “o” that metaphorically climbs the ladder to success.

When you’re called the Social Mobility Foundation, you can’t sit still - so our “o” moves fluidly and seamlessly up the lines of the logo (and the rungs of the social ladder).

The leaping “o” motif is strengthened by subsequent touchpoints, both online and offline.

Copywriting heavily features the “o” with lines speaking to the many opportunities SMF provides in a direct, confident way. Motion is also incorporated into the identity, helping SMF to stand out in the increasingly busy online space.

Equal parts straight-talking and eye-catching, the fresh look and feel breathes life into SMF’s mission. It visually represents social mobility with no unnecessary embellishments, and it sparks the imaginations of young people and corporate sponsors alike.

We set out to give SMF an identity to be proud of. And according to Chief Executive David Johnstone, we did just that: "We’ve been expanding rapidly and opening offices around the

country, but we hadn’t given thought to our brand identity alongside this - neither updating it significantly nor ensuring consistency across our various platforms. It’s been great to have such a skilled team to give us the benefit of expertise and make sure our visual identity matches that of our work."